‘RapidPass System’ for front-liners to be launched April 3

FILE: A Cainta traffic personnel assisted by a policeman uses a thermal scanner to check the temperature of motorists along Felix Avenue in Cainta, Rizal on Monday (March 16, 2020). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA – The government will launch on Friday afternoon the RapidPass System, a virtual identification system that makes use of QR code technology to ease the passage of front-liners and other exempted individuals at checkpoints.

The launch of the RapidPass System seeks to decongest checkpoints amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a virtual press conference on Friday.

Nograles, also the spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said QR codes could be downloaded on mobile phones for faster and contact-free passage at checkpoints.

“Itong RapidPass System ay kinon-ceptualize para mapabilis ang sistema ng pag-check ng mga sasakyan at mabawasan ang person-to-person contact sa front-liners na gumagawa ng kritikal na serbisyo (This RapidPass System was conceptualized for a faster system of checking vehicles and to reduce person-to-person contact for front-liners who are doing critical services),” he said.

The IATF-EID on March 27 approved the use of RapidPass, a virtual identification system developed by Developers Connect.

RapidPass was already tested with the help of the police and the military to facilitate faster travel through quarantine checkpoints, Nograles said.

He said priority vehicles could easily pass through a checkpoint once the QR code is scanned.

“Sa RapidPass System, ang ating mga front-liners sa mga checkpoints ay gagamit ng QR Code scanners na nasa smartphones at isa-scan po ‘yung unique QR codes (This RapidPass System allows front-liners to use QR Code scanners downloaded on their smartphones. The unique QR codes will then be scanned),” Nograles said.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Science, and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said individuals allowed to leave their homes can secure a QR code by registering through website rapidpass.ph.

“Print the QR code and place it on your car window and checkpoint personnel will scan it. Through this system, there will be less contact between users and checkpoint personnel,” dela Peña said.

Police and military in Luzon have been ordered to man checkpoints while the island is under the enhanced community quarantine to control the further transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country.

The quarantine is effective until April 12, unless extended by President Rodrigo Duterte.